卵 (luǎn): egg; ovum

Meanings

1 egg; ovum
2 spawn; roe

Characters

卵

luan

egg; ovum

Examples

青蛙在水中产卵。

Qīngwā zài shuǐzhōng chǎnluǎn.

Frogs lay eggs in the water.

卵细胞和精子结合形成胚胎。

Luǎnxìbāo hé jīngzǐ jiéhé xíngchéng pēitāi.

The egg cell and sperm combine to form an embryo.

Tips

usage

卵 is the scientific/biological term for egg — 产卵 (chǎnluǎn, 'to lay eggs') is for animals, 卵巢 (luǎncháo, 'ovary') is medical. For everyday food eggs, use 蛋 (dàn): 鸡蛋 (jīdàn, 'chicken egg'), not 鸡卵. In some dialects, 卵 is slang for testicles — be aware of this in informal contexts.

Components

radical

卩 jié

kneeling person; seal

The right 卩 is the indexing Kangxi radical. The egg-pictograph was reanalyzed so that its right half resembled 卩, placing 卵 in the seal-radical lookup family despite having no original connection to kneeling or sealing imagery.

pictograph

卵 luǎn

egg; ovum; testicles

Originally depicted two hanging fish-roe sacs or paired eggs, with internal dots marking the yolks. The left side plus the inner dot preserve the original egg-sac imagery; it is too fused with the right 卩 frame to split into independent named pieces.